Landlord Kicks Out Popular Davis Coffee Shop To Make Way For Starbucks
DAVIS (CBS13) - The owners of a very popular Davis coffee shop have been forced to close their doors and they're steaming mad.
The owners of Common Grounds coffee shop say their landlord gave them the boot to make way for coffee giant Starbucks.
Customer after customer came by the shop after hearing rumors their favorite spot was shutting down.
"That's just unfortunate to me. There are so many Starbucks, I love that this was just a local place," customer Alli Carver said.
Owner Michelle Kim says a Starbucks will soon take the shop's place in the Oakshade Town Center.
For 12 years Kim and her husband have been serving up hot coffee, never missing a rent payment.
"It's crazy. We were so busy and this was a happening place, and now I lost everything," said Kim.
She says for months they were negotiating a new lease when the landlord said he might be looking for a new tenant, but Common Grounds would stay in the shopping center.
Kim says the talks then stopped, until last Thursday when an eviction letter arrived.
"You lease is going to be end on April 4, time to pack and move and turn in your key," Kim said of the letter.
With the lease up and no legal footing, Common Grounds has to pack up shop and lay off 10 people.
"I'm like, 'whoa, I'm out of a job,'" said Jonathan Foster who works at the shop.
This is very bad news for Foster, who is trying to plan an August wedding.
"My fiancée works here too. So to both find that out and to be job searching, it's a rough season for both of us," he said.
CBS13 called the landlord to ask why Kim received such a short notice to leave, but our calls were not returned.
"Hopefully it doesn't come to this," said Kim.
She hopes the shop can avoid leaving the location she loves so much.
"People, local people that hang out here, and all the friends that come in here, I got to know all these customers as friends," Kim.
The owners say if they have to leave the building, they plan to open another store somewhere in downtown Davis and say they plan to rehire the workers they had to let go.
